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The joy of books

Jan 08, 2017

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” ~ Emilie Buchwald

Valentines Day is also International Book Giving Day and so today I’ve been thinking about my best loved books. The first that came to mind was ‘The bear who wanted to read’ by Lee Davis. I pretty much know this book by heart as I used to read it with my daughter, Jade, every night. We’d cuddle up on the sofa and before long she was saying the lines with me, initially from memory but, as time went on, she was recognising the words. It’s a delightful story about Ben (the bear) and his boy, Max. The story was a catalyst for encouraging a love of books. Ben plays with the books before his discovers what wonders there are inside. He quickly learns that letters have sounds and that he can use these to make words. This is a real encouragement to any child who’s struggling with the first stages of phonics.

The teaching of reading has moved on from the ‘Janet and John’ books that I started on in the 60s. They were repetitive and frankly boring. I remember well the ladybird books which are still going strong today. The ‘Elves and the Shoemaker’ captured my imagination. Oh, how I would so love some elves to sneak into my home every night and do my housework.

I’ve just realised that there are so many fantastic books that one blog just won’t be enough so tomorrow I’ll tell you why I have to eat chocolate when I read. Can you guess which book started that habit?